Rep. George Miller Statement on 40th Anniversary of OSHA and Workers Memorial Day
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today on the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Workers Memorial Day.
“On this Workers Memorial Day, we honor those workers who were injured, made ill, or killed on the job in the last year. We also recommit ourselves to protecting workers’ safety and health. Forty years ago today, the opening of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reflected core American values: Putting health and safety first is not just good for workers and their families; it’s good for business. Workplace health and safety took a giant leap forward that day, but we still have a long way to go to make good on the promise made to working people when OSHA opened its doors.
“It is undeniable that the creation of OSHA has resulted in millions of saved lives and limbs and helped keep hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty following disabling injuries. But there are very vocal special interests pushing to undermine this historic law and its enforcement, including budget cuts designed to cripple the agency. These well-funded special interests say that ensuring the health and safety of workers is too costly, too burdensome, and too intrusive. What they fail to understand are the enormous economic benefits of protecting the health and safety of workers: A safe and healthful workplace is a productive workplace.
“While we stand ready to fight efforts by special interests to turn back the clock on worker safety, we must also continue to press for long overdue improvements to the law where workers have been left exposed to dangerous conditions and careless practices. Our workers deserve the best, most modern protections contained in the Protecting America’s Workers Act, the Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosions Act and the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act.”
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